Much of the focus Sunday centered on House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who must wrestle conservatives into line to pass the deal before Tuesday's default deadline. Yet team Obama quickly found out it is confronting an equally daunting sales jobs with a Democratic base embittered by compromise, ditched policy priorities and what many liberals view as an endless series of Obama capitulations.

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"If I were a Republican, this is a night to party," Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Missouri Democrat who chairs the Congressional Black Caucus, told MSNBC Sunday night.

If Obama thought he had problems with liberals before this, he'll have even more now, no matter how hard the White House spins it as a "victory for bipartisan compromise, for the economy and for the American people," as the administration's official talking points claimed.

"Is this the deal I would have preferred?" No," Obama said. "We could have made the tough choices required on entitlement reform and tax reform right now rather than through a special congressional committee process. But this compromise does make a serious down payment on the deficit reduction we need . and ensures also that will we not face this same kind of crisis in six months or eight months or twelve months."

Democratic leaders, in general, seem willing to back their leader. But it's not clear whether House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will be able to rally her divided caucus to deliver the hundred or more votes necessary to compensate for the loss of GOP backing.

"I look forward to reviewing the legislation with my caucus to see what level of support we can provide," a noncommittal Pelosi said Sunday after details of the deal were released.

Even if the measure passes, senior administration officials said the president will hit the road to make his case for the compromise. Unlike his previous jobs-centered events, he'll have to court the base that delivered him to the Oval Office in 2008, not just the independents he covets for 2012, many fellow Democrats say.

Still, West Wing officials tried to downplay the tension, saying many liberals were trashing the compromise because they didn't know its actual contents.